Looking sharp: BBC to launch five new HD channels

The BBC has announced that it will roll out five new subscription-free HD channels by early 2014.

The new channels include BBC News HD, BBC Three HD, BBC Four HD, CBeebies HD and CBBC HD – totaling an extra 250 hours of HD programming per week, available on all services including Freeview HD and Freesat. With over fifty percent of the country now HD ready and that number expected to reach 80 percent (20 million) by 2016, it’s easy to see why the BBC is going this way and abandoning 3D – which 1.5 million UK homes have and only half of them use.

We're particularly happy to hear that Auntie also plans to upgrade your local news to HD - which means you won't have to swap to a non-HD channel when BBC Breakfast segues into its local news coverage any more. That's a win.

The BBC's push for HD comes just ahead of the impending shift towards 4K, with BBC North controller Mark Harrison stating that, "We are years away from being able to make and transmit in 4K, yet it matters far more than 3D ever did." We agree – and with 4K TVs set to conquer your living room, we can but hope that the BBC gets a move on and follows up its raft of HD channels with a free 4K channel.